This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2001-26785, filed May 16, 2001, in the Korean Industrial Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk cartridge for receiving an information recording/reproducing medium, and more particularly, to a disk cartridge in which structures of openings for a pick-up providing access to a disk are improved so that a size of the disk cartridge can be advantageously reduced.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a disk cartridge 10 is intended to receive a disk D to be used in a recording/reproducing apparatus 100. The disk cartridge 10 includes a case 18 having upper and lower portions 11 and 12 which form an internal space for receiving the disk D, a holder 13 which is inserted into and joined to the case 18 having the upper and lower portions 11 and 12 while supporting the disk D, and a shutter 14 for selectively opening and closing openings 11a and 12a formed through the case 18 having the upper and lower portions 11 and 12 so that a pick-up 130 of the recording/reproducing apparatus 100 can have access to the disk D. Receiving holes 11b and 12b are formed to be connected to the openings 11a and 12a, respectively, so that a turntable 110 and a clamper 120 of the recording/reproducing apparatus 100 can clamp a clamper area D1 (See FIG. 2) of the disk D upward and downward. The receiving holes 11b and 12b are opened or closed by the opening and closing operations of the shutter 14.
In addition, an opening lever 150 is installed on a cover 101 of the recording/reproducing apparatus 100 for opening and closing the shutter 14. As the disk cartridge 10 seated on a tray 140 moves into the recording/reproducing apparatus 100, one end of the opening lever 150 engages with an engagement portion 14a and opens the shutter 14 while the opening lever 150 pivots, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. A spring 151 is provided for restoring the opening lever 150 to an original position when the cartridge 10 is moved out of the recording/reproducing apparatus 100.
Recently, a size of the disk D has been gradually reduced, and a recording density of the disk D has increased. Also, the apparatus 100 for recording on/reproducing from the disk D tends to be smaller, and therefore the disk cartridge 10 for receiving the disk D is required to be smaller. However, as shown in FIG. 2, widths Wb of the openings 11a and 12a for the pick-up 130 to have access to the disk D, as described above, and reserved spaces Wc for the opening/closing operations of the shutter 14, are required to be included in an overall width Wa when determining the size of the cartridge 10.
Consequently, when a width of the shutter 14 and the widths Wb of the openings 11a and 12a are assumed to be nearly the same, it can be considered that an overall width Wa of the cartridge 10 needs to be at least 3 times the widths Wb of the openings 11a and 12a. Therefore, though a method of reducing the widths Wb of the openings 11a and 12a can be considered so as to make the cartridge 10 smaller, the widths Wb of the openings 11a and 12a cannot be reduced as desired because the openings 11a and 12a must allow the pick-up 130 to have access to the disk D. That is, if the cartridge is not intended to be used in a special recording/reproducing apparatus employing a very small pick-up, a width allowing a general-sized pick-up to have access to the disk D must be maintained. Therefore, a disk cartridge having a structure capable of reducing an overall size thereof without reducing the sizes of the openings 11a and 12a is desirable.
Various objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
To solve the above problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved disk cartridge having a smaller overall size while maintaining conventional dimensions of openings.
Accordingly, to achieve the above and other objects of the invention, there is provided a disk cartridge accommodating a disk including a case for receiving the disk and having openings, and a shutter for opening/closing the openings, wherein the openings deviate a predetermined distance from a middle position of the case towards one side.
These together with other objects and advantages, which will be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.